Dyn 52 - Tempted!!!

arnold Silver Member Username: Jingka99 Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Post Number: 130 Registered: Aug-06	Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 01:50 GMT Hi Guys, I know that there have been discussion about matching up dyn 52 with NAD C352, lately I have been given a nice offer on a pre-owned dyn 52s and it's really tempting Am currently using PSB B25s and the dyn 52 would be a nice upgrade methinks...Only that I am worried whether my C352 would be up for the job in driving the dyns...some say, the C352 woould be able to drive the 52 fine, others disagree...So, may I ask what say you? Would there be a big improvement going the dyns way considering my amp? Will there be any consequence in subjecting the amp to such difficult load, in the long run? Thank you.
Hawk Gold Member Username: Hawk Highlands Ranch, CO USA Post Number: 1221 Registered: Dec-03	Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 02:15 GMT arnold: I have Dyn 42s (same room efficiency as the 52s) hooked up to an NAD T753 placed in a very large room and they work just fine. You actually have 10 wpc more than I have, so unless you would be putting these in an extremely large room or you are looking for ear-splitting volume levels, I think they will work just fine. The Dyns have a level of resolution that is a quantum better than your B25s (a very fine speaker in its own right), so I expect you will hear an improvement. While the Dyns may be a difficult load, my NAD has hasn't had the least trouble with them (same cannot be said with my previous Denon). I wouldn't expect you would either.
Art Gold Member Username: Artk Albany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4194 Registered: Feb-05	Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 02:15 GMT I think that the 352 could drive them. Frank would know better how the combo would sound But I don't see a problem. They would definitely be an upgrade.
arnold Silver Member Username: Jingka99 Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Post Number: 131 Registered: Aug-06	Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 02:52 GMT Thanks Hawk and Art, I appreciate your quick responses...as you know, in the pre-owned market, first come first serve rule...If I cannot decide on time, the opportunity to grab this very nice deal is gone...I hope Frank will drop by soon...BUT your honest opinions/experiences will be more than enough for me to decide...I'll give you update soon
arnold Silver Member Username: Jingka99 Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Post Number: 132 Registered: Aug-06	Posted on Friday, March 02, 2007 - 02:07 GMT Hi guys, the Dyns will be coming tomorrow...Lucky I was able to make a good deal with the seller, he will deliver the dyns personally, visual check and then hookup test...I can wait!!! Hope it's a good move for me...
Art Gold Member Username: Artk Albany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4213 Registered: Feb-05	Posted on Friday, March 02, 2007 - 02:12 GMT Congrats Arnold, hope you enjoy them.
arnold Silver Member Username: Jingka99 Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Post Number: 133 Registered: Aug-06	Posted on Friday, March 02, 2007 - 02:29 GMT Many Thanks Art! I really hope so...BTW, I'm keeping my B25 as well, just in case..... Hey Art, was wandering what time is it there in your side of the world? Staying up late?
Art Gold Member Username: Artk Albany, Oregon USA Post Number: 4216 Registered: Feb-05	Posted on Friday, March 02, 2007 - 05:56 GMT No it was early when I posted last...it's still only 9:52 pm.
saurabh Bronze Member Username: Sukhoi30 New Zealand Post Number: 82 Registered: Jun-06	Posted on Friday, March 02, 2007 - 07:33 GMT For your piece of mind, Nad 352 will be happy to drive 52s without any problems (you must have already found out). But i would look at upgrading the amp in the future if i were you, those Dyns can go higher than the NADs in terms of performance, and if you truly want to exploit there potential. Having said that the Combo is nice nonetheless. These are joys of upgrading, one followed by anoather in many cases.
arnold Silver Member Username: Jingka99 Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Post Number: 134 Registered: Aug-06	Posted on Friday, March 02, 2007 - 08:49 GMT Thanks Saurabh, it's great to know that it will be fine with the NAD... I haven't tried it yet, it will be delivered tomorrow evening... I'll post my findings soon!
arnold Silver Member Username: Jingka99 Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Post Number: 135 Registered: Aug-06	Posted on Monday, March 05, 2007 - 02:06 GMT The dyn 52s were delivered to me by the seller last Saturday evening. After visual inspections, I noticed a few knocks in the cabinet of the right speaker but nothing serious to be concerned about...I checked the drivers and everything was in mint condition. Hook them up and played a few of my test CDs...and Wow! It was really different than the B25s, it's hard to describe the difference...but the one thing that immediately caught my attention was the bass, it was tight and tuneful... the Dyn 52s have excellent dynamics, tight and solid punch, great resolution and timing abilities...I was glad that my C352 was able to drive these speakers with no problems at all...Another thing I found out is that I can play loud with these speakers and still the sound was clear and detailed...I may not be exploiting the full of the Dyns but I'm quite happy with the result nonetheless... Thanks again Hawk, Art and Saurabh... Oh BTW, I sidelined my sub since I got the dyns, I don't think I need the extra low from the sub at the moment... Cheers, arnold
Nuck Gold Member Username: Nuck Post Number: 6196 Registered: Dec-04	Posted on Monday, March 05, 2007 - 04:13 GMT Thats great, Arnold! Play with the placement a bit. No side walls! Have fun.
arnold Silver Member Username: Jingka99 Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Post Number: 136 Registered: Aug-06	Posted on Monday, March 05, 2007 - 05:35 GMT Thank you Nuck! Yes, will experiment on the placement, just this morning I noticed that the right speaker has more resolution than the left, it is as if it is louder, when you said "No side walls", I just realized that my left speaker is actually near the side wall than the right, I have an odd shaped living area and I couldn't place the speakers as most of the placement guides suggest, equi-distant like a traingle arrangement, my living room is rectangular in shape and I am using a portion of it as my listening area so it's a bit challenging for me to find the right placement...I will verify later when i get home and play a little with the placement...How about the distance from the back wall? What is the recommended starting distance? Thanks... arnold
Uback007 Silver Member Username: Uback007 Post Number: 152 Registered: Mar-06	Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 05:04 GMT To celebrate my first anniversary to all things audio, I decided to upgrade from Paradigm Titans Ver. 4's to a speaker with a more sophisticated sound. I was in Cincinnati and ran across a dealer in northern Kentucky by the name of Entertainment Solutions. Anyway, they were discontinuing carrying Paradigm and were getting rid of all of their remaining stock. They had a new set of Paradigm Studio 20 v.3 in the fake cherry finish (read: decal) The had them priced at $500 for the pair and after listening, I bought them. Got home and set them up and while I loved the sound- (leaps and bounds better than the Titans) I didn't much care for the cherry decal finish that imo, looks terrible. The Titans were in the same plastic laminate but in the rosenut color they looked a lot more real than the cherry of the Studio's. (I'm getting to point here don't worry) Wife concurred with me about the finish, especially where they are situated in our family room. Well, I knew that no matter how great they sounded, I would not be able to get past the finish (or lack thereof) and decided to return them. Arrived at the store and listened to a lot of speakers, from B&W 600, 700 and 800 series to Totems (pricey!)The price of $500 was a steal, but I knew if I wanted something that looked better I would most likely have to pay for it. Which brought me to this little speaker on the top shelf of the listening room called Era- Design 5's They were finished in a gorgeous real Rosewood laminate. I remembered reading about the Era 4's in TAS, so I started asking about them. The salesman smiled and said that they have lived up to their reputation as being one formidable little speaker. We listened and A-B'd them to the Studio 20's that I brought back in (the 20's are double the size of Era 5's) but WOW! did they sound good! I was amazed at what I heard and decided to shell-out the extra $250 dollars and bought them. For sh(t's and grins, the salesman A-B'd them to an 800 series (I forget the exact one) monitors and pairs of Totem Mite and Totem Model 1's that were 2 and 3 times the price of the Era 5's. The most amazing thing about it was these little speakers held their own in providing one heck of a great sound. Very Very comparible to the B&W's and Totems. If you're in the market for speakers in the sub-$1000 range, you owe it to yourself to audition the Era 5's - I think you will be pleasantly blown away at the sound.
Nuck Gold Member Username: Nuck Post Number: 6261 Registered: Dec-04	Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 05:18 GMT UBack, if the Era's beat out a pair of B&W 805's, that is a feat! I put the 805's. the 140 Dyn's and mayby the ProAc's in that group. Do the Era's stack up?
Uback007 Silver Member Username: Uback007 Post Number: 153 Registered: Mar-06	Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2007 - 18:02 GMT Nuck, I wouldn't say they beat out the sound, but damn, they were a very close neighbor to the Totem Mites and any other comparably sized monitor I heard that night let alone ever. However, I've been in this a year, so I'm sure there are monitors out there like the Magico's that would eat the Era's alive. But for the money, WOW! If I spent a alot of time with the 805's- I'm sure I would choose them over the Era's. In justifying spending more over the $500 I had already spent for the Monitor 20's, I had to have my value oriented brain some comparison. We A-B'd them to the 805's and Mites and the Model 1's-what I heard was so good that these Era's could run "in the pack" with these higher priced offerings from B&W and Totem. As for the Dyn 140's or the ProAc's I have not heard them. However, I have heard the Audience 52's, and I would say that if you're in the market and are heading toward's purchase of the 52's - give these a listen. You may fall in love and save yourself some money. Era speakers were designed by Michael Kelly of Aerial Acoustics fame as a private brand of Signal Path International, the US distributer of Musical Fidelity. The are not the most efficient speakers I will tell you and I am definitely wondering if my CA 640A V.1 at 65 watts is enough juice to really power them. Signal Path subscribes to the same Musical Fidelity philsophy of "watts are cheap" (MF watts are NOT cheap!!) and recommend a lot of power to get the best sound out of the speakers. I'm already looking at a MF A3.5 amp at 150 watts a channel- This hobby is going to get expensive! If my memory serves me correctly the Audience 52's I heard last week were being powered by $10,000 worth of components with a 200 wpc Conrad Johnson integrated and MrCormack CDP,I think that they told me that while you can run them with 80 watts (like Hawk running his with a NAD 753)but they sound a lot better if you got the additional power and headroom. Give them a listen and I'll think you would be surprised at just how well they sound. Here's a review that I found: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/era/era.html Anyway, The pair that I heard at the store had been broken-in and I am listening to mine with a head-cold that has rendered my hearing attenuated to hell (talk about frustrating! You've just spent $750 ($900 list) on speakers and you cant enjoy them because your ears are underwater!) The dealer neglected to tell me about the duration for break-in and there is nothing in the literature provided that would indicate. However, I've read enough to know that it is probably not the case. I read a review from Stereophile or TAS about the Era 4's, where the reviewer said that he gave them a much needed 25 hour break-in before reviewing. Any ideas as to how long the typical break-in is? 25, 75, 100+ hours?

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